Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend to the annuity market the freedom that people have to access their pensions.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government announced in October 2016 that it would not be continuing with proposals to remove the restrictions on the sale of existing annuities.
As these proposals progressed it became increasingly clear that the conditions required for a competitive market to emerge, with multiple buyers and sellers of annuities, could not be balanced with sufficient consumer protections.
This could have led to consumers receiving poor value for their annuity income streams and suffering higher costs in the sales process. Consumer protection is a top priority for the government and it would not have been acceptable to allow a market to develop which could produce poor outcomes for consumers.
There are no plans to review the decision not to continue with proposals for a secondary market in annuities at this time.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the results of the consultation on the tax treatment of heated tobacco products.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the point of income maximisation on tobacco excise; and what steps he plans to take in the event the point has been reached.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government keeps all taxes under review and considers this issue carefully at each fiscal event.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of tobacco taxes rises on the purchase of non-UK duty paid tobacco in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Estimates of the value and volume of product in the illicit tobacco market for the last five years, up to 2016-17 are published below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the amount of revenue accruing to the public purse from taxation on tobacco has matched the forecasts set out for those revenues by the Office of Budget Responsibility in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) regularly review the performance of forecast receipts and the findings are published in the OBR’s Forecast evaluation reports. The most recent Forecast evaluation report, published in October 2017, evaluates Tobacco Duty forecasts announced in the 2015 and 2016 Spring Budgets. This can be seen in the Forecast Evaluation Report :
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/fer/forecast-evaluation-report-october-2017/.
VAT is also charged on tobacco but this information is not separately forecast.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of (a) lost business to convenience stores and (b) lost revenue to the Exchequer due to smokers purchasing black market tobacco.
Answered by Andrew Jones
No assessment has been made of the impact of the illicit tobacco market on business sectors such as convenience stores. The tax gap for tobacco was £2.5 billion in 2016-17. Of this tobacco duty was £1.9 billion and associated VAT was £0.6 billion. The details are published on GOV.UK (‘Tobacco tax gap estimates 2016-17’):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional tax revenue his Department has collected as a result of Stamp Duty changes in South Thanet constituency since 1 April 2016.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs is planning to publish this information in Autumn 2017, in the Annual Stamp Tax Statistics bulletin.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes HM Revenue and Customs have (a) registered and (b) approved in each financial year since 6 April 2012.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not currently publish information on the number of Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes applications received and accepted.
Official statistics on the number of companies raising funds, the number of subscriptions and amounts raised under SEIS in 2012-13 and 2013-14 are available to view at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/enterprise-and-seed-enterprise-investment-schemes-january-2016.
The first official statistics for 2014-15 will be published in April 2016, alongside statistics for the Enterprise Investment Scheme. HMRC plans to publish new statistics within this release on the number of companies applying for the scheme and the number of those who are successful.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the number of people who will become higher rate taxpayers as a result of the provisions of Clause 24 of the Finance Bill 2015 (restriction to Landlords' interest deductibility) in each year between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
Answered by David Gauke
It is assumed that the questions refer to clause 24 of the Summer 2015 Finance Bill: relief for finance costs related to residential property businesses.
15897
The additional taxation receipts arising from restrictions to Landlords’ interest deductibility of the Summer Budget Finance Bill 2015 has been estimated and published in the “Summer Budget 2015: policy costings” page 21:
15898
The number of taxpayers who will become higher rate taxpayers as a result of Clause 24 of the plans to restrict finance cost relief for individual landlords will not be estimated. It would only be possible to provide an estimate for the specific years requested at disproportionate cost.
15899
The number of taxpayers who will become subject to Personal Allowance restrictions as a result of the plans to restrict finance cost relief for individual landlords will not be estimated. It would only be possible to provide an estimate for the specific years requested at disproportionate cost.
15895
No estimate is available of the number of people that will be subject to the provisions of the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge as a result of Clause 24 of the Finance Bill 2015. The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the annual additional taxation receipts arising from restrictions to Landlords' interest deductibility from inception of Clause 24 of the Finance Bill 2015 in April 2017 through to its full effects coming into force in 2020-21.
Answered by David Gauke
It is assumed that the questions refer to clause 24 of the Summer 2015 Finance Bill: relief for finance costs related to residential property businesses.
15897
The additional taxation receipts arising from restrictions to Landlords’ interest deductibility of the Summer Budget Finance Bill 2015 has been estimated and published in the “Summer Budget 2015: policy costings” page 21:
15898
The number of taxpayers who will become higher rate taxpayers as a result of Clause 24 of the plans to restrict finance cost relief for individual landlords will not be estimated. It would only be possible to provide an estimate for the specific years requested at disproportionate cost.
15899
The number of taxpayers who will become subject to Personal Allowance restrictions as a result of the plans to restrict finance cost relief for individual landlords will not be estimated. It would only be possible to provide an estimate for the specific years requested at disproportionate cost.
15895
No estimate is available of the number of people that will be subject to the provisions of the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge as a result of Clause 24 of the Finance Bill 2015. The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.